Civil War History

[Hardcase]

It makes perfect sense, Hawg. I know exactly what you mean. That's kind of the way things are on my dad's side.

[Hardcase]

When the National Archives sent the CD of great, great grandpa's pension file, it ran to about 110 pages, but they said that there were another 75 pages available if I wanted to pony up some more money. Well, that was a no-brainer, so I had them finish the work. In fact, there were another 121 pages.

It's interesting to see that over the course of well over 100 years, the wheels of government turn just about as slowly and efficiently today as they did back then. Most of the paperwork revolves around his attempts to get his disability pension increased. The problem was that instead of spending his time in the hospital getting treated and getting all the proper paperwork done, he stayed with his company and kept fighting. Also, it turns out, he was looking after his younger brother and trying to keep his butt out of a sling with his parents, as you'll see in this affidavit that he sent to the Pension Office explaining why there was so little documentation of his gunshot wound:

I cannot send the Affidavit of Dr Smith. he will not give it to me. I sent my Brother to him for one and he told him he thought I had the Diarrhoea but could not remember the circumstances for it was so long ago. Then he asked him if he didn't Doctor me in Camp Parks Ky after we came back from Miss. He told him he could not remember. I then wrote him the Circumstances of my case all through but he says I cannot remember 18 years back. I can prove by my Father and Mother he sent a letter to his Brother and told him to go and tell them that I was mortialy wounded and he told them and read the letter to both of them at their house in Soudon Ontario. They lived there at that time. His Brother was a Detective then and my Father was Preaching in Soudon. That was in 1864. I will further state the reason he wouldn't give me an affidavit. He got mad at me when we first came home. I made some fun of him about a black woman he used to run in his Office before he went in the War. He was going to whip me and now he is taking his spite out this way. I would also state that most of the doctoring was done by Dr Yarnold. He went out as Hostpital Stuart of the Regt and he had the most of the work to do fo rthe Doctors were not well posted except Dr Stockwell, and he didn't stay long with us. Doctor Neblack he did not come to the Regt until Dec 1863 and was away as you will see by inclosed Postal Card that he was Absent Sick in the Summer of 1864 and did not return until October 1864. Dr Harry H Powers I cannot find him. He is not in Sarinac and I have tried to find his Post Office address but cannot find it. I have done all in my power to furnish the Affidavits of Said persons to the best of my ability. I would ruther state the reson I would not go to the Hospital. I had a younger Brother with me in the Company and I did not want to leave him for my Parrents always blamed me for his Enlisting and if any thing had of hapened to him while I was away thay would have never forgiven me. That is the reason I have no more Hospital record than I have.

Perhaps a lesson to be learned here is to pick your targets of teasing carefully.

[Hardcase]

One of my cousins had three of these songbooks and sent one of them to me last week. What a great gift!

It was published in the 1880s by the Woolson Spice Company, manufacturers of Lion Coffee, for the GAR, the Woman's Relief Corps and the Sons of Veterans. It's a fascinating little book, about 34 pages, and has little tidbits of history about the War, along with the words to the patriotic songs of the day.



I've scanned it into a (rather large) PDF if anybody is interested. Download it here.

[4V50 Gary]

Thank you Hardcase. The Sons of Union Veterans still exist today. I know the National Commander.

[youngunz4life]

I love that pix(last post with one displayed).

I did get the enlistment paper(s)

zeroxed the best quality possible out of their Big binder with enlistments (1864-67).

a while back I spoke with someone and had to do a seperate request in writing for the pension(which has all the reords). they responded that they admit that they should have the record but do not. they did say the VA should have the file and gave me instructions to request it along with quotations of how to exactly request the pension file. They also stated they were going to try and retrieve the info themselves as well. I sent that off about a month ago but nothing yet...

still nothing on my request but since my may 28th post I have received a postcard from the VA confirming my request with a confirmation #. This was a ways back(probably not long after my last post), so hopefully they'll make progress eventually.

[Smokin'Joe]

Hardcase,
Thanks for sharing War Songs with the group. Immediately after great conflicts populations try to forget the terrible times and focus their attention on other matters. But after a generation or two, as the old combatants begin dying off, there is a desire to honor their efforts and sacrifices. Monuments, memoirs and even song books surface in tribute to them. The same thing happened in the 1990s to honor The Greatest Generation who fought in WWII.

[Hardcase]

The Sons of Union Veterans still exist today. I know the National Commander.

I wish that there was a Department in Idaho, but, interestingly, the population here during the Civil War was predominately Southern. There are quite a few towns and rivers in the state named for Southern landmarks. I suppose that one of these days I'll get off my duff and join as a member at large.

There was more than a little trouble in the 1860s because the Federal appointees to the territorial government were exclusively Northerners, but the elected officials were almost all Southerners. Some great examples were that sheriffs would tend to not arrest Southerners for crimes against Northerners and judges would tend to dismiss charges against Northerners for crimes against Southerners.

The state prison was a lonely, empty place most of the time.

[4V50 Gary]

Hardcase. There is, but it's part of the Department of Colorado & Wyoming. One of the problems today for any social organization is the economy and that younger people tend not to join as their fathers or grandfathers did. I suspect the internet has a lot to do with it.

[Bill Akins]

This was a fascinating read fellas. I read every post. Thanks for starting it Hardcase. The account of your relative at the Crater was really something to read along with his writings to get his pension. I enjoyed the pics too. I especially like looking at the decades later reunion pics like you posted. There are reunion pics like that, that have Jesse James on their rolls and listed as being in the pics as an old white haired man, many many years after he was supposed to be dead! Makes me wonder if the KGC didn't pull the hoax of the 19th century and fake Jesse's death.

Also drftrman's Confederate relative's letter was a real window into the lack of shoes and food and deprivation suffered by the under supplied average Confederate soldier. And Hawg, was that picture you posted a relative of yours or just some civil war veteran you found a picture of online that looked like you? Reason I'm asking, is because I was wondering if he was a relative of yours Hawg, if you knew how he lost that middle finger (in battle?), or if it was just poking under his tunic?





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[youngunz4life]

the 'going under the tunic and/or uniform' bit was very common during the time of the Civil War though I am not sure why his middle finger is the only extremity going under in this picture.

[zullo74]

It's a coded signal from the past. We can only image what it means......

[Hawg]

Yeah he was a relative. Not exactly sure where he fit in. Need to do more research on it. He's prolly saying read between the lines.

[Bill Akins]

Maybe he's "giving the finger" to the Federals?


.

[Hawg]

Maybe he's "giving the finger" to the Federals?

He did that in spades.

[Hardcase]

The New York Times has been running a series of articles in their "Opinionator" section called "Disunion". The common theme is the history of the Civil War and many of the pieces have been real gems.

There's a very good one today about the bonds that the soldiers shared, particularly in the face of certain death or capture. As with most histories of the era, I read it and was terribly thankful that I didn't have to go through what they did.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com...B16713F8CBCC83

Also, I'm struck by the similarities between those stories and my great, great grandfather's experience at the Battle of the Crater. After taking a .58 caliber bullet to his left knee, two of his brother soldiers came to his aid, lifting him from the ground and carrying him to the regimental hospital, ignoring the withering fire from the Confederate soldiers above them.

Even great, great granddad's actions after he got to the hospital went above and beyond - as I wrote earlier, he "ran away" from the hospital after a few days so that he could keep an eye on his younger brother.

[Shotgun693]

My Grandmother's Father served in the Tennessee Union Cavalry. He was in a couple of fights but was captured and was in Andersonville.
My Grandfather's Father was in the Tennessee Confederate Cavalry. He served under Nathan Bedford Forrest. His records are rather thin so far. He did muster out with some of Forrest' men in IT/OK. Or so his pardon reads.

[kilimanjaro]

Gordon Rhea has a great battle history of the Grant campaigns, one is "To the North Anna River : Grant and Lee May 13-25, 1864". I'll bet you'll find at least one mention of your Michigan unit in that book, it's pretty comprehensive down to Regiment level and salient company actions are covered.